Half of PCIe video fails

We have a home-built desktop that has worked with a 2-connect video card
for over a year. The desktop is left turned on most of the time. The video card has never failed during that time. We walked in one A.M. to find that the second monitor connection failed. I managed to find another PCIe card and installed it. I downloaded the drivers and the card worked for about 24 hours and the same issued occured. We know the monitor is working correctly as we have swapped the connectors. MoBo is an MSi G41M-P34
and the (second, latest) vid. card is a Radeon X1600. Software is (as if it makes any difference) XP-SP3 32 bit. Suggestions appreciated.

 

Failing (weak) power supply?

 

I too would vote for power supply, though motherboard's condensors could also be a culprit.

If PCIe slot had failed, there should have been no display at all.

 

Google: bulging | failing capacitors

 

I was finally able to locate another platform and installed the dual-port PCIe card. It is definitely not the card. The card displayed two monitors correctly. If I can dig up a SATA powere supply I'll try that approach. If not...it's new MoBo time (groan!!!).
Thanks for all the tips!

 

Not sure what you mean by that. Virtually any PSU today has SATA power connectors. And adapters are easily available for any older (like 7 or 8+ years) PSU. Note SATA generally refers to drives, not graphics cards.

 

Second monitor issues in dual monitor setup

Dual video card installed has worked like a charm......BUT.....when left unattended both monitors go to sleep and wait 5 min to display screen saver. When I come back to use the machine, the primary monitor wakes up immediately, and the secondary takes a very long time, sometimes minutes.
When returning to use the machine, secondary monitor shows the yellow power lite. I ususally de-activate the "extend WIN desktop to this monitor" so I can use the computer, all on the primary monitor. After a few minutes I try to 'wake' up the secondary monitor by re-activating the "extend... ". The secondary screen displays 'no signal'. After another minute or so, the second monitor does come to life.

SO what's the probable cause? Is the second monitor failing, is the card starting to fail, remebering that this is a new MOBO.

Any help would sure be appreciated.

 

I recommend you swap the monitors around and see if the problem stays with the original monitor, or moves to the new secondary monitor. This will tell you if it is a monitor problem, or the computer's graphics solution having a problem.

 

No problem.

Okay, since the threads have been merged, we see you already swapped monitors too. But I am confused by this:

What do you mean by platform? Are you saying you have installed this card in another computer, and it does the same thing there too?

 

Pete, many thanks.

Bill, as U can see fromt he first set of posts, we have swapped monitor on the card and found both monitors work, and the card works, and the card slot on the new MOBO works.

The problem I (we) are tryin to resolve, is what MIGHT be about to fail, as the second monitor takes such a long time to 'wake up' after being left idle for some time. One of the weird bahviors is the monitor initially showing 'no signal' and yet it wakes up and operated normally after some minutes.

 

Bill

I was finally able to locate another platform and installed the dual-port PCIe card.

We purchased another case & MOBO, inserted the dual port card in that new machine.

 

Now MS has provided another set of WIN/XP upgrades 11/8/11 and on system restart I get the message........

"The Catalyst Control Center is not supported by the driver version of your
enabled graphics adapter. Please update your ATI graphics driver, or enable
your ATI adapter using the Displays Manager. "

Might this be a clue as to the problem I'm encountering or is this new?

 

Yeah, I'm a bit lost too.

You've tried a different graphics card, a different motherboard, and you swapped monitors and you are saying whatever monitor is in the secondary position still has problems waking up? Is that right?

What didn't you swap? The boot hard drive/OS? The PSU?

Note if you simply moved the boot drive to the new motherboard and did not reinstall Windows then (1) if an OEM license, that is illegal and (2), then your drivers may not be right.

 

Bill,

Thanks for your input, but it is NOT relevant. The hard file with a VALID WinXP license has been installed in a new machine with new processor. Two separate dual monitor cards exhibit the SAME behavior. The secondary monitor takes a long time to wake up.

I'm trying to determine what this behavior may be predicting? A soon to fail monitor, a soon to fail display card or something else.

 

I have been saying "drivers" to myself, reading this thread.

If you are swapping the graphics card/adapter to a "new" computer, you need to install the drivers that came with the graphics adapter, then if you want to find updates for the those drivers, go to the graphics adapter manufacturer's website to find them. Don't get driver updates from Windows Updates as Pete said, get them from the manufacturer.

If I read correctly, there were errors relating to ATI. Don't make settings for the Display using Windows. Use the ATI software to make the Display settings. You should find the ATI settings in Start -> Programs, by right-clicking on the desktop or in the Notification Tray (System Tray).

Look for information about dual monitors at the ATI website if you can't find it on your computer.

Don't use the Windows display settings or drivers. Use the ATI (Catalyst) software and the adapter manufacturer's drivers.

Matt

 

Finally got a response from AMD support, which was no help. Purchased a new card & installed the drivers. Everything now works well.

Thanks for all your help.